Commissioner Peraica offers his gratitude to Cook County and local municipal officials in the 16th District for their efforts in addressing the massive flooding which occurred over the past weekend (July 23 and 24, 2010).

“I am pleased that everyone came together and worked to help county residents, especially the elderly. County employees from the Sheriff’s Department, Office of Homeland Security, and my own staff were on hand to survey damage and provide needed assistance. While this was certainly an unfortunate event, it was heartening to see local officials, neighbors and friends helping one another in this time of need.”

Cook County is working with local municipalities to provide assistance to those impacted by the flood. The county is not in a position to provide financial assistance unless the Federal Government declares the impacted areas to be a disaster area.
In order for this to occur, data and evidence must be submitted to substantiate the amount of damage caused by the flooding.

Forms are available from Commissioner Peraica’s Office for individuals to fill out detailing the damage to their home and property.

PLEASE NOTE:  These are to be filled out and returned to the town or village in which you live (if unincorporated, please turn in to your township) not to the county or to Commissioner Peraica’s office.

• Click here to download the data collection questionnaire form to report property damage.

• Click here to send us a note if you have further questions or need further assistance.

You can also contact our district office via phone at 708-345-5838.

“In terms of promoting transparency and truth in budgeting and taxation, the health bureau budget falls short.

“The county shelled out taxpayer funds for a study by Integrated Clinical Solutions, Inc. but failed to include the cost of matching pension payments, risk management, cost of litigation defense, and depreciation and per-square-foot cost of facilities.

“In reality, the health bureau cost per-patient-bed, or per-patient visit, is lower than it really is.

“By failing to include these $175 million in additional costs, they are presenting a false and incomplete picture to the taxpayers.

“It only makes sense if all health bureau cost are included — these cost are currently missing from the fiscal year budget for 2010 and the five year plan.”

“This is an important step forward for Cook County taxpayers, who are struggling to make ends meet amidst rising unemployment and a growing tax burden.

“But it is only a first step.

“In the coming months I plan to introduce additional tax relief measures, including an ordinance to fully repeal the Stroger sales tax and an ordinance that would require a supermajority vote of the county board to raise taxes and fees on the people and employers of Cook County.

“The overtaxation and lack of accountability offered by Cook County government has failed the taxpayers for far too long. It’s time for a change, and I pledge to continue our fight for this honest reform.”

Back in 2007, I called on our local members of Congress to launch a federal investigation into Cook County’s misuse of up to $30 million in federal homeland security dollars meant to the ill-fated “Project Shield” program.

Only recently have my fellow elected officials started to heed the call, with Congressman Mark Kirk joining in the call for an investigation earlier this year.

Now, as the Daily Herald reports this morning, the Feds may finally start investigating this troubling situation (thanks to a legislative push by Congressman Kirk):

The federal Government Accountability Office would investigate Cook County’s use of funds for a police surveillance system, if a proposal by U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk is approved.

The proposal would be tacked onto a Homeland Security appropriations bill and would call on the GAO to look into how federal money was spend on Cook County’s Project Shield system.

Project Shield was created to improve communication between the county’s police departments in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster.

The program had come under fire for cost overruns and waste under former director Antonio Hytton, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s onetime chief information officer, who was fired earlier this year.

On behalf of the taxpayers of Cook County, I urge all of our local members of Congress to support Congressman Kirk’s efforts to ensure that our homeland security dollars are not abused.

As this Crain’s story details, Cook County is putting in place a plan “to improve access to medical care for the needy while curbing massive financial losses.”

I strong support these proposed changes — and they are the very same measures for which I have advocated since 2005.

The story details the proposals:

The proposal calls for scaling back expensive inpatient care in favor of expanding the county’s network of clinics and specialty-care sites. It forecasts that visits to county outpatient facilities will increase more than 60% by 2015 — to 1 million patient visits from about 600,000 last year.

Two of the county’s three hospitals, both lightly used money-losers, would be converted to treat patients on an outpatient basis, helping ease current months-long waits for colonoscopies, surgeries and other treatments.

And the savings from ending those in-patient services — more than $70 million a year — would be plowed back into expanding tough-to-find specialties and primary care countywide.

I will continue to keep you updated as this plan is put in place. You can rest assured I will do everything in my power to continue fighting for access to quality, affordable health care from the county health system — while ensuring that your tax dollars are being spent responsibly by county health officials.

I’m pleased to report that the Chicago Sun-Times has endorsed the ethics reforms we introduced at yesterday’s Cook County Board meeting.

The Sun-Times editorial board writes:

We welcome an ethics ordinance drawn up by the Better Government Association and longtime reformer Dick Simpson, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Commissioner Tony Peraica introduced the measure Tuesday at a County Board meeting.

If adopted, the ordinance would put new limits on lobbying, campaign contributions and business relationships between the county and its officials or employees.

Now we just need to get these reforms passed.  If you reside outside the 16th district, please visit CookCountyGov.com, find your commissioner’s contact info, and ask him or her to support these vital measures.